The
15 current and 10 pending members of the European Union
completed a two-day summit in Porto Carras, Greece, on
Saturday with the promise of a constitution to govern the EU
by next spring. That set of events signals the
transformation of the EU from primarily an economic
organization to a more political one.

The
highlight of the summit was the delivery of the draft
constitution by ex-French president Valery Giscard
d'Estaing, who led a group of 105 delegates through the
16-month process that produced the document that they intend
to govern the EU. Some elements of the draft have sparked
concern among EU members. Among the concerns voiced are
issues such as who would be allowed to vote, how to amend
the constitution, and whether member nations should have
veto power over Union-wide laws.

The
draft will now be debated by other members of the EU, who
hope to have the constitution ready to be approved by the 10
new members when they join the Union next spring.

The
new nations are Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and
Slovenia. The existing members are Austria, Belgium,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and
the United Kingdom.

With
the new members, the EU will surpass the North American Free
Trade Agreement (uniting Canada, Mexico, and the United
States in an economic union) as the world's largest market,
with 445 million people compared to NAFTA's 416 million. The
EU members have a common currency called the
euro.

The
expansion will be the first since Austria, Finland and
Sweden joined in 1995. The founding 12 nations began the EU
in 1993.